Questing in Cataclysm: The Best Quests and Rewards

With a bit of a break this holiday weekend, it's time for an old-fashioned quirky guide--this time on quests and fun quest rewards.

Around a year ago, the revamped 1-60 content was unveiled, providing players with a fresh way to complete Loremaster! While most everyone is focused on the end-game now, sadly only viewing quests as Molten Front dailies, there's many interesting quests and rewards along the way. With 4.3 on the horizon, take some time before the chaos starts up again to check out some of the following quests. From silly to serious, you'll learn a bit about Azeroth's lore and collect some unique rewards along the way.

Quests

Some old favorites were removed in Cataclysm--from small chains like saving Trey Lightforge in Felwood, to epic chains like Fallen Hero of the Horde. But there's still something for everyone, whether you're interested in completing Loremaster or just want a fun diversion from heroics and Firelands.

Kalimdor

Kalimdor was seriously hit by the Shattering, with many coastal areas flooded and others up in flames. In addition, tensions between the Alliance and Horde are high. While evidence of these two conflicts can be seen in most any zone, a few stand out that are worth completing.

Les Serres-Rocheuses, formerly a haphazard and dull questing zone, has been transformed into a tense storyline for both the Horde and Alliance. It's fairly low-level, so it's worth doing on alts of both factions to get a fuller sense of the storyline. It tracks the fate of a lethal Horde bomb--the Alliance are desperately trying to intercept it, while not everyone in the Horde is pleased how the bomb is being handled.

Tarides du Sud is another war-torn zone worth doing on both sides. Split from the top half of the barrens after the Shattering, the Alliance have made military inroads. Much of the conflict revolves around the fate of Camp Taurajo, a Horde civilian town destroyed by the Alliance.

Mille pointes has a few great questlines, so it's worth doing the whole zone to follow all the storylines. Féplouf Zéboulon and Pozzik, of Shimmering Flats racetrack fame, have made the best of their flooded track to build a pleasure speedbarge--but conflicts inevitably arise between this gnome, goblin, and their tipsy patrons ready to start a barfight. On a darker note, Freewind Post has been catured by the Grimtotem and players must aid Magatha Grimtotem, viewed by most players as the character responsible for Cairne Bloodhoof's death. There's also a cute digression with Libérer les wyverneaux in which baby windcub riders look adorable. is a good comment outlining the flow of the zone.

Jumping into the central whirlpool will reveal the secrets of Darkshore below.

Eastern Kingdoms

Eastern Kingdoms was less affected by the physical upheaval of the Shattering, but there are numerous political changes in store. Sylvanas Windrunner has waged war on Gilneas, in addition to raising a new generation of Forsaken and brainwashing and destroying most anything in her path. Formerly sleepy zones like Redridge and Westfall have internal conflicts in store too.

The quest series covering the Battle of Andorhal is worth completing on both sides in Maleterres de l’Ouest. While death knights Thassarian and Koltira are now enemies, they are unwilling to put their friendship aside as the battle rages--and Koltira is punished accordingly by the Banshee Queen. The quest series culminates in Adieu, Andorhal/L’évaluation finale.

In the Terres Ingrates, players encounter the dragon Rhea and assist her in saving a purified egg from Deathwing--one that will turn up again in the new legendary for rogues. It's a heartbreaking questline and the final reward, Dernier œuf de Rhea, is one many players won't sell.

Marche de l’Ouest has undergone a major revamp in Cataclysm for the Alliance. Now filled with vagrants and torched farms, the zone is one of discontent. And while the Defias are subdued, they are not eradicated, as one finds out…

Contreforts de Hautebrande is both hilarious and horrifying for Horde players. The New Scourge massacres Southshore, unleashing lethal plague onto part of the zone. However, there's also funny parts--such as your character becoming a quest-dispensing NPC in Bienvenue dans le système and meeting Johnny La Classe wearing heirlooms on his sparklepony.

Questing throughout Eastern Plaguelands will net you this achievement--you'll run into more and more NPCs as you quest.

The Burning Crusade

The Burning Crusade traced the fate of Illidan, the displaced Draenei, and numerous demons. In addition, there were several epic questlines--while they don't all reward their unique titles anymore, they're worth doing for the lore, such as the Hand of A'dal chain or the series for Médaillon béni de Karabor.

The Cipher of Damnation is an epic questline that used to be a prerequisite for entering Tempest Keep. This comment outlines all the various quests in the chain. You are tasked with rebuilding the spell uttered by Gul'dan which shattered Outland. Oronok, a former lieutenant of Gul'dan, is constantly reminded of his treacherous involvement--and sent his three sons out into Shadowmoon Valley to find traces of the cipher when he received word that Illidan was using the cipher for his own purposes.

These quest series give major amounts of reputation for L'Aldor or Clairvoyants. They mostly follow the same trajectory in Netherstorm--shutting down the various Manaforges. However, the climatic battle against Socrethar differs for factions. The Aldor questline is a bit more interesting as a traitorous Draenei realizes his wrongdoings and then sacrifices himself.

The questline demonstrates how revenge is not always the most effective strategy. After a peace-loving Draenei is murdered, you are asked to go on a rampage on his behalf--learning afterwards that it was the wrong choice.

To enter Karazhan in the past, one needed to complete an elaborate questline to receive a key. Attunement has been removed, but the questline is interesting as it introduces players to the Kirin Tor, Khadgar, Burning Crusade heroics, and the general lore of Deadwind Pass. This comment explains all the steps in teh keying procedure.

This quest series requires you to kill the end bosses in Caverne du sanctuaire du Serpent and Donjon de la Tempête. You are tasked with retrieving a vial that was drawn from the Well of Eternity--Illidan poured three into the lake on top of Mount Hyjal to form the second Well of Eternity, and the rest were presumed lost until now. This quest also opens up access to Balance des sables reputation rings. Completing it before nerfs in Burning Crusade rewarded Main d'A'dal.

This quest series granted attunement to The Black Temple, involving the Ashtongue Deathsworn, redeeming Akama, slaying A'lar while disguised as a Broken in Tempest Keep, and eventually killing Illidan Stormrage for Médaillon béni de Karabor. It didn't just stop after attunement, but continued to trace the development of major lore characters. This comment documents the full process.

Wrath of the Lich King

Zones in Wrath of the Lich King mainly focused on the destruction Arthas wrought, with other storylines about the Titans, dragonflights, and the peaceful Tuskarr.

The first half or so of Icecrown is worth doing to get a sense of the full scope of the Lich King: the Croisé Bridenbrad questline, reclaiming the Shadow Vault, and discovering the remnants of Arthas' heart.

Vétéran du portail du Courroux and the resulting Battle for the Undercity is a gripping look at how relations between the Alliance and Horde unravelled in the face of a great tragedy. The quests leading up to the achievement provide insights into the Scarlet Crusade, undead villains, and faction heroes.

On a lighter note, Scalawag Point in Fjord Hurlant offers fun pirate-flavored quests with disguises, duels, bars, and bribes.

This is an epic chain to first discover a battered weapon, reforge it, learn its history and importance, and then purify it in the rebuilt Sunwell. This comment provides a good overview of the quest series.

Drakuru is one of the most sociable and calculating villains in WoW--he tricks you into helping in in Grizzly Hills, and then tries to befriend you in Zul'Drak, knowing you are too useful to die.The quests required for this achievement are La purification de Drak'Tharon and Trahison.

Cataclysm

There isn't a ton of variation when questing in Cataclysm--chances are you've stumbled across some of these quests while leveling to 85--but some are touching even if popular. And while Vash'jir can be a pain to navigate underwater, it really does have some fun plotlines and characters--from historians worried about decaying ruins to the hilarious crew from Zul'Aman.

Added in 4.2, many players did this questline without thinking simply because epic capes were the final reward. But if you take the time to listen to all the dialogue, it's an interesting character sketch of Thrall--both his strengths and weaknesses.

You're tasked with bringing about a political marriage between subsets of the Wildhammer clans, but quickly learn that Fanny Tonnemar has a mind of her own and awesome personality. From turning down your escort aid to enthusiastically talking about the physical attributes of her groom, Fanny has a lot of sass and makes the traditional 'wedding planning' quests fun. The final quest has a surprise twist, but Paroles et musique de…, in which you get to write your own wedding song, is a fun highlight too!

Harrison Jones is back, and you need to assist him on his fabulous adventures in Uldum--culminating in Brann Bronzebeard's reappearance. It's a very long quest chain and this comment goes over every quest in the series.

Quest Rewards

While many quest rewards were changed in Cataclysm to form matching armor sets (which you can check out on our new transmog feature like Discovery Armor), there's still some unpredictable rewards like trinkets with fun animations or vanity pets!

There's some strange gear you can get from questing--hats that conjure drinks, one-sided shoulderpads, gilttery black rings, mail gear that looks like leather, and frying pan offhands. Here's some of the gear that stood out across zones.

Relive your days as an apprentice. (30 Min Cooldown) "In memory of lost dreams of being an apprentice." This transforms you into numerous disguises and races, based on Archmage Xylem's apprentices. Horde reward for completing a lengthy quest series in Azshara.

This pet used to be farmable in the old Zul'Gurub until it was removed. This comment explains how to currently obtain the pet for both Horde and Alliance, involving low-level questing in Northern Stranglethorn. Bonus: the pet is tagged as <'aka>, instead of <'s Pet>.

This pet requires you to complete three escort quests--Trouvez OOX-09/HL ! in Hinterlands, Trouvez OOX-17/TN ! in Tanaris, and Trouvez OOX-22/FE ! in Feralas. These quests are started by looting random zone-wide drops and can be tricky at-level, not to mention the beacon drop rate is very low. However, it is BoE--so you might see it on the AH.

The escort quest for this pet is fairly easy at level, especially if you clear the area beforehand and know the path. Completing this escort quest also rewards you with the Halloween hat, Chapeau de sorcière du ciel.

Complete Perdu dans les profondeurs 10 times to get this pet. You will need to have unlocked Therazane dailies in Deepholm and get lucky with the daily quest selection--as this quest is not a guarantee.

For Alliance, this is a reward from the culmination of rebuilding Darkshore/mourning Auberdine. Read this comment for the full quest series. For Horde, they can simply buy this from Apothicaire Furrows.

These mounts are rewards for taking care of 'baby' cubs/ravasaurs for approximately a month, feeding and playing with them. The process of getting a Frostsaber used to be quite complex, but it's since been simplified into a daily-style rep grind.

Trinkets

Most leveling alts will have BoA trinkets and won't give any quest rewards a second thought, but some trinkets from questing are more than just mediocre stat boosts--they shoot rainbows or summon lances.

Reduces your threat to enemy targets within 30 yards, making them less likely to attack you. (5 Min Cooldown) "I'm going to count backwards from three. When I reach zero, you're going to stop pummeling me... well, that's the theory."

Recipes

Everyone knows about cooking recipes in starter zones, but did you know there are Blacksmithing recipes you can get by dancing? Here's a list of more obscure recipes from questing. All save the last two cooking recipes are BoE--meaning you can transfer these on the neutral AH for recipe completionists.

Misc. Objects

Not all quest rewards are related to strengthening your character or counting towards a collection. There's a subset of items that are completely whimsical and fun--an item that shoots a single firework every 5 minutes, poisons any class can use, a steam tonk toy.

Commentaire de Interest

I noticed "They Grow Up So Fast" is listed twice. However, the Treasures from Grim Batol is awarded from another quest --> Il faut les affaiblir.

Also, where's Venomhide Raptor? =)

Commentaire de Atratzu

on 2011-11-27T14:58:09-06:00

I discovered a lot of this stuff on my own... but it's good to see there's some stuff I missed... you can level tons of 85's and overlook many of these amusing/cool items.(I should say, without wowhead, I probably wouldn't have found most of the companions that have already been stated here.)